The number of days counted for this cycle can be found under the “meter readings” header. For instance, your normal billing period would be about 30 days. The December-to-January cycle, however, could have stretched an extra four to five days. The more days, the more water you’re going to use.

The utility’s recorded message blames the longer cycle on the holidays – presumably because the utility was closed more than usual. Utility reps can't read your meter from their computers if they’re not in the office.

On average, Evansville water customers will pay about $160 more in 2018 than they did last year. That’s good news for me. Thanks to this last bill, I’m almost there. (Editor’s note: That’s not how it works at all.)

Rates will continue to increase every year through 2020 to help pay for a massive overhaul of the ancient, brittle cast-iron water mains that snake beneath the city.

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A burst water pipe shoots water in the lobby of an apartment building in Downtown Evansville Jan. 8, 2018. Video provided by Connie Fallat.
Zach Evans / Courier & Press

The sewer hikes will help pay for a slew of projects planned over the next few years that will bring the city in line with a mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency to improve our equally ancient sewer infrastructure.

It’s a problem the city ignored for decades. Here are a few headlines from over the years:

Back in 2007, Republican At-Large City Council Candidate Andrew Smith ran on a “sewers before stadium” platform.

His argument was exactly like it sounds. He said that before Evansville considered replacing Roberts Stadium, it should address a sewer system so infamously horrible that it landed us on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” in 2003.

So naturally, voters and politicians alike took Smith’s message seriously and leaped into action.

I’m kidding. Republicans split on the issue and Democrats ignored him. And he finished fifth in a six-man race, losing to top vote-getter Curt John by more than 3,500 votes.

Today, Smith said he still fields questions about his platform.

“It’s so weird. It’s an election that’s now more than 10 years old. And it keeps coming up. And I lost,” he said, laughing. “It’s really, really strange.”

But not surprising, he added, because it’s such a universal problem. There was no way such a large overhaul could have been funded without ratepayers kicking in a few bucks, but he said a fix back then would have been much cheaper than what we face now.

“The biggest point we were trying to make was this is only going to get more expensive in the future,” he said. “The longer we waited the more expensive it was going to be, so why not try to tackle it sooner rather than later?

“… To me the fairest thing you can do is to ask the people who are using the service to contribute. It’s painful. And I’m sure it’s more painful now today than it would have been in 2007.”

This year, the average monthly sewer rate, per 5,000 gallons, will be $70. Next year? About $80. In 2020, it will climb to about $85.

It’s a bad time to be an Evansville water and sewer customer. And it will be for awhile.